The Internet has evolved from primarily a vast repository of reference information to a conduit for sharing electronic information. People are able to perform many functions via the Internet, such as conduct complex banking functions, purchase goods and services, engage in social networking, and communicate with businesses or other people using sophisticated websites. This evolution has been fueled in part by increased security in these exchanges and increased behavioral acceptance of sharing personal information (e.g., payment information, etc.) with another party.
Many entities offer goods and services to users via electronic sites (e.g., websites, peer-to-peer systems, file transfer protocol (FTP) systems, etc.). Some entities may host their own electronic site while others may use a third party to provide some or all of the electronic data for a site. Regardless of a configuration and host of each electronic site, the sites are typically isolated from one another for various reasons, one of which is an inherent competition between the various electronic sites (e.g., competition between entities, etc.). Another reason is to increase security and privacy of users. Yet another reason is a difficulty in sharing information between entities when each entity has a unique system (e.g., legacy system, etc.) that is inflexible and cannot easily share information.
During user interactions with an entity at an electronic site, the entity may be able to collect significant amounts of information from the user that may include preferences of the user, payment information, address information, and other user information. However, this information is often constrained to user interactions with the respective electronic site.